Ingestible microchip pill

A new ingestible microchip sensor has been approved by the FDA and will be accessible in pharmaceutical products in order to help doctors better care for their patients.

Proteus Digital Health initially developed the chip-in-pill technology in 2009, but just received approval from the FDA. The technology can transmit patient data to a smartphone device after receiving it directly from inside the patient’s body.

The technology comprises a battery-operated patch worn externally on the patient’s skin and a sensor that would be integrated into the patient’s medication. The sensor, about the size of a grain of sand (1 mm square) is made of ingredients found in food and is passed through the body like a high-fiber food. It contains two conductive materials on either side that when wet will power the sensor for a short amount of time.

When a patient ingests the sensor, eventually it will reach the stomach where it is powered by stomach fluid. It will communicate by a high-frequency electrical signal that will determine precisely what kind of pill the patient just took and when the patient took it. The information is transferred to the patch worn on the skin. The patch can also detect other bodily data such as heart rate, sleeping patterns, and body temperature.

All of this information can be relayed to a smartphone and accessed by the patient’s doctors who will now have more accurate data and be able to provide more informed decisions and treatments. Patients can also access this data to monitor whether or not they have taken their medications.